The first wave of tickets to the Obama Presidential Center sold out within hours, which is no surprise given its spectacular art and compelling story.
A mile away, low-priced tickets are readily available at the DuSable Black History Museum, and it’s obvious why. On the surface, these two Chicago institutions share similarities.
The experiences they provide, however, could not be more different.
The Obama center has a stunning display of first lady Michelle Obama’s couture dresses. The DuSable has a nice selection of T-shirts in its lonely gift shop.
The Obama center’s museum features a four-story digital canvas showing how the Civil Rights Movement paved the president’s path to the White House. The DuSable similarly provides an informative timeline of civil rights, in an exhibit that can be thoroughly viewed in under an hour.
The Obama center has a full-scale replica of the Oval Office, as it appeared during Barack Obama’s tenure. The DuSable has a talking, blinking robot likeness of former Chicago Mayor Harold Washington seated at his office desk. He’s still beloved by many older Chicagoans who remember his tumultuous tenure — which ended four decades and six mayors ago.
While the DuSable is hoping for a boost from the opening of its new neighbor, it might as well be a lot farther away than its long-standing location in Washington Park, which the Obama center seriously considered before opting for tonier lakeside digs in Jackson Park.
No museum shuttle bus takes visitors from one institution to the other. There’s no reciprocal admission deal. To date, no joint programming is contemplated, and the DuSable has doesn’t have the star power of the Obamas. If Barack and Michelle showed up at the door, the DuSable’s friendly staff would likely be shocked.
The Obama center has other priorities. “We’ve got our hands full getting this campus up and running and doing programs on this property,” Obama center chief Valerie Jarrett explained, reasonably enough, in a meeting at the Obama Presidential Center with the Tribune Editorial Board on June 8, shortly before the center’s dazzling first-day ceremonies. “We don’t want to live beyond our means, so we are not expanding with the other museums right now.”
That’s perfectly understandable, but it leaves an open question: What becomes of the DuSable in the shadow of the Obama campus?
Illinois residents have good reason to care, not least because the DuSable is funded with public money. The Chicago Park District contributes more than $1.4 million annually. The City of Chicago periodically awards grants as well, and the state of Illinois just approved a $1.6 million grant for building improvements.
The public support only goes so far, however, and the DuSable has been struggling for years. The pandemic hit it hard. A whistleblower lawsuit pits a former executive against the museum’s leader and its board, raising doubts about spending practices.
In its most recent tax return, for 2024, revenues from admissions and tours amounted to just $160,146, and membership fees only $23,195. That’s less, combined, than the salary paid to its chief executive officer, and a pittance next to the $2.2 million in government grants it booked that year.
The museum drew around 100,000 visitors, well below its pre-pandemic peak. That same year, Chicago’s Shedd Aquarium attracted 2 million. The Art Institute of Chicago, Field Museum of Natural History and Griffin Museum of Science and Industry were well over a million as well.
The Obama center’s smaller paid museum will attract fewer visitors annually than those giant institutions, but probably six or seven times more than the South Side’s other Black-history-focused museum. On a sunny afternoon last week, while barely a dozen patrons poked around the DuSable, crowds were swarming the Obama center’s public library, playground and gardens, which are free. Next door, the Griffin Museum of Science and Industry was packed as well.
The DuSable had just celebrated Juneteenth, always one of its busiest days, and the Obama center thoughtfully scheduled its Juneteenth program to avoid a conflict. “We did not want to compete with them on Juneteenth, particularly not on that day,” Jarrett told us. “We are very willing to work with them, and see if there are any synergies, particularly on the program side. But I can’t really predict their future.”
We can’t predict the future, either, but it sure looks like the DuSable is on track to be a forgotten stepchild, which would be a shame. When it opened in 1961, as the Civil Rights Movement gathered momentum, the DuSable was a pioneering institution of which Chicago had every reason to be proud.
We hope that with its grand opening behind it, the Obama center can find a way to partner with this faded South Side landmark and share a little of its luster. The DuSable is still capable of offering solid programming, as evidenced by the current “Paris in Black,” which spotlights poet Langston Hughes and entertainer Josephine Baker, among other luminaries who found creative inspiration in the French capital from the 1890s on.
Meanwhile, if like most Chicagoans you’ve never visited the DuSable, or haven’t visited in forever, check it out. At $14.50 for adults, and only $12.50 for Chicago residents, it’s a small investment to support an important part of the city’s history.
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